Guest Blogger Interviews #3

Welcome to The Invisible Vision Project’s Blog and the third episode of Guest Blogger Interviews. Our guest blogger for today is Elin and her blog, My Blurred World. Elin is one of the very first blogger friends I made, I found her blog on Twitter, she’s also one of the many bloggers that have inspired me to start my own blog! Without further ado, let’s get right into the interview questions:

Please briefly introduce yourself.
My name is Elin, I am a 20-year-old blogger and Open University student from Wales in the UK.

What are your hobbies and interests?
My main hobby is blogging, I absolutely love writing so it’s definitely one of the things I dedicate the most time to. I also absolutely love music and going to concerts, I went to my first ever concert last year and I’ve been hooked since then. I also really enjoy spending time with my family and friends.

Name your strengths? And your lacking?
This is always a question I struggle to answer but I’d say that one of my strengths is writing. People often comment on my writing style and applaud the way I write so it’s definitely one of my strengths.
I’d say that one of my weaknesses is the fact that I put too much pressure on myself, I can be quite hard on myself sometimes which doesn’t always benefit me so it’s definitely something I need to work on.

What is the highest level of education you have completed so far?
At the moment, my highest level of education are my A Levels which I completed two years ago but as I said, I am currently studying a BA Honours degree with The Open University.

What is your current occupation?
I am currently doing a work experience placement at a local university but I’m also a student and a blogger.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years time, I’m hoping that I will have nearly completed my degree, I also hope that I will have secured a job in the journalism/social media industry or as a freelance writer.

Describe one of your proudest moment in your life.
One of my proudest moments was receiving my A level results and securing my first job in 2016. I’m also proud of the progress my blog has made over the past couple of years, I’m really proud to have been a part of campaigns with different charities, being featured in Blogosphere Magazine and recently winning two awards for my blog.

What is your biggest fear in life?
Losing the people that I love.

Please tell us about your blog: What is the title of your blog? When did you first get into blogging and Why did you start?
My blog is called My Blurred World and I created it back in April 2015. I started my blog to express my love of writing and to share my passion for beauty and fashion with the world. But my main goal has always been to raise awareness of my vision impairment in the hope that I can help, educate and motivate others by talking about my own personal experience of living with sight loss.

How would you describe your blogging style?
I am a beauty, fashion, lifestyle and disability blogger. I’m always honest when writing and I always try to keep my posts as entertaining as possible.

Who has impacted you the most in blogging?
There are so many bloggers who inspire me, people who I look up to and admire for all the hard work they do so it’s really difficult to whittle it down to one. But outside of the blogging world, my family have always encouraged me to keep on blogging and they’ve always given me the confidence to continue trying to help others, something I’m really grateful to them for.

How active are you on your blog and approximately, how much time do you spend blogging?
I publish a new blog post every Sunday and I’d say that I spend time almost every day on my blog whether it be writing posts or working on other bits and bobs behind the scenes.

Have you ever faced a challenging moment in your blogging journey so far?
There have been times when I’ve felt unmotivated with my blog and the content I create, this was especially true last year and it’s definitely one of the main challenges I’ve faced as a blogger. But, there are also times when I struggle to get my blog out there, it can be challenging to reach new people, something I’ve wanted to do from the start since I want to raise as much awareness as possible and help as many people as I possibly can so when that doesn’t happen, it can be quite disheartening.

In the future, where do you hope your blog will take you?
I hope that it will give me the opportunity to express more of my passion for writing and I’m hoping that it might bring more opportunities to write for other bloggers and organisations. I also hope that it will continue giving me the opportunities to work with charities. It’s also been a dream of mine to work with my favourite beauty and fashion brands on my blog, something which might be a little ambitious for me at the moment but I’m hoping it’s something that might happen in the future. I also just want to write my blog to help other people who might be experiencing similar things to me and I want to continue to educate the public on subjects such as disability.

What would be one piece of advice you would give to first time bloggers?
It’s so important to proofread your blog posts to avoid making mistakes, this is something I was guilty of not doing for quite a while when I first started blogging and it’s something I’ve learned from over time. Also, just write about what you’re passionate about and don’t worry too much about gaining readers or subscribers, it’s important to blog for yourself and just write about the things that make you happy.